"Open office plans are harder to make friendships in," she says. "When people are first forming friendships, the currency they're using is the exchange of confidences."

Thus the need to head elsewhere.

Become a regular at your neighborhood bar, cafe, or restaurant.

The key is to spend time with the same people. Eventually, the mere exposure effect takes over.

The mere exposure effect is where "people feel a preference for people or things simply because they are familiar," writes Psych Central. "Just because we see a stranger occasionally does not make them any more trustworthy ... we just feel like they are because we 'know' them."

Thus the value of being a regular at a bar, cafe, or restaurant: If you run into the same people again and again, you'll feel more comfortable around them, and thus more apt to form bonds.